Last week I wrote a short post about the tough decisions bars and music venues are dealing with in the face of the growing Coronavirus pandemic. If you missed it, you can find it HERE.
We ended up having a pretty amazing week, despite all the uncertainty and stress.
We had a full house for our open mic on Thursday hosted by The Thrift Store Gypsies, a nice mix of our core regular crowd plus lots of new faces. We expected it to be quiet, but we were treated to some stellar performances, and we ran almost an hour late to get everyone in. It was one of those nights where we had lots of enthusiastic listeners AND lots of musicians which always makes for exceptionally good energy in the room.
I even discovered a band I wasn’t familiar with – Vagabonds, Hobos & Whores. They did a few songs of their own, then sat in with Dan Wagner later in the night.
Photo Credit: Babette Puzey
They are FANTASTIC, check them out if you get the chance.
Our open mic has grown into such an awesome little community, and we’re grateful to Babs and Todd for putting so much love and energy into developing it.
Photo Credit: Sandy Roe
Our talented pal Tim Burns was playing down the street at Guilfoils, and when he has that gig he usually stops in when he’s done and closes out our open mic. Lucky for us, last week was no exception. He played my very favorite Tim Burns original, “Count My Blessings”, plus he debuted a new song – I think it’s called “Greatness All Around Us”? As late as it was, a lot of the crowd stuck around to the very end and you could have heard a pin drop while Tim was singing.
On Friday we had the Simplelife Duo and Corey Paige, who are longtime friends of The 443. Brett Hobin filled in for Ben Sumner, who was home taking care of his kids because his wife was out of commission with a stomach bug.
Photo Credit: Dave Frisina
I first met Mike Frisina (one half of the Simplelife Duo) when he was in high school and his dad arranged for him to work at my old gift basket business in the early 2000’s. He’s grown up to be an exceptional human being – he has a beautiful family, a successful career and he’s still rocking out with his pal Ben in Simplelife every now and again. Corey is a truly gifted vocalist and we always look forward to having the guys on our stage.
Saturday night was our ticketed show with the incredible Mike Powell and as usual, it was sold out.
Photo Credit: Bill Baldwin
Mike is one of the most charismatic and compelling performers out there, but on this night the bar seemed to be just a little higher. He and John absolutely CRUSHED it, and we were proud to present Mike with his third 443 Golden Mic Award for selling the show out.
During all three nights, I took some time to sit quietly by myself in the back of the room and just soak it all in.
I looked out into the space we created at the loyal community we’ve helped cultivate…everyone in the room completely absorbed in the performance on the stage. I watched the artists sing their asses off and I saw the joy on the faces in the audience. There was a palpable sense that we wouldn’t be able to do this again for a while and I think everyone wanted to lose themselves in the music one more time. I found myself getting emotional as I took it all in…the audience and the artists were fully engaged and it was pure fucking magic.
I had some deep conversations with a few of our regular guests, who thanked us for being open and giving them a chance to gather together before we all go into seclusion.
While we were still getting a decent amount of people coming in the door, it was becoming a moral dilemma. Should we stay open and try to make as much money as possible before shutting our doors for an extended period of time? Or heed the growing chorus of warnings to stay home to slow the growth of the virus? I was already feeling squeamish about trying to promote shows in the face of what was happening.
On Sunday we had our twice-monthly Tacos & Blancos event, and the mood was starting to shift. The band and the crowd were a bit more somber, as more people were coming to grips with what is coming our way.
Photo Credit: Steve Moore
Los Blancos have spent their career providing the soundtrack for some of the most memorable and fun parties and gatherings we’ve enjoyed here in CNY, and Colin even played our surprise backyard wedding a couple of years ago. They will always have a place in our hearts.
I knew going into the weekend that everything was about to change and we weren’t going to be open much longer…I was already preparing for it. But if we end our run at The 443 with a spectacular open mic, Simplelife, Corey Paige, Mike Powell and Los Blancos, well…I’m okay with that. We presented some of the best live music around to an audience who truly appreciated it – and that has been our goal from the beginning.
As I suspected, we’ve got a whole new ballgame this week.
On Monday morning we made the decision to close through the end of March, while privately I was thinking it was going to be at least until the end of April. Shortly after we announced we were closing temporarily, Gov. Cuomo announced that bars and restaurants needed to close by 8pm.
So it’s out of our hands now anyway.
My son Nick and I have spent the last few days getting our physical space buttoned up for an extended closure – locking up all the booze, cleaning, and pitching anything in the cooler that was going to become a science experiment.
We took our upcoming show posters down, which turned out to be the most depressing part of the week.
And our usually colorful entryway was covered in black paper.
My husband, my son and the rest of my crew have worked our asses off to build The 443 from the ground up and we’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished. We are hopeful we can hang in there and reopen when the danger of public gatherings has passed. I’m encouraged to hear about potential help for small businesses and we’ve been touched by the sweet friends who have jumped in and purchased VIP Patron memberships and gift cards. We’re not giving up and we’re going to do our best to come back better than ever when this is over.
See you soon,
